"Action!"

The Academy for Dog Trainers' video coaching process

Recently, a prospective Academy for Dog Trainers applicant asked “aren’t there in-person workshops? How will we learn to train dogs?” This was an excellent question about our online-only program, of course: dog training is a physical skill, like throwing a three-point basket, completing a tricky figure skating move, or baking a soufflé. Competent dog trainers must learn a suite of important skills, from luring to fading; paying to prompting; adding cues to adding distractions.

So it was a good question. But the answer might come as a bit of a surprise: the Academy has found that in-person sessions are simply not the best way to teach trainers to train.

With an eye to efficiency, the Academy has created, and refined, a video-coaching process that has consistently turned out graduates with excellent technique (“mechanics”, in trainer lingo). Students submit videos of themselves training a series of behaviours as assignments. For example, the program includes training some basic obedience behaviours to verbal stimulus control and a free-shaped retrieve, among others. Each time a student submits video, the Academy’s coaches review it and provide feedback. We look for and reinforce the proper execution of key mechanical skills (or approximations of key skills, in early assignments). Feedback is provided quickly and on a standardized form, which is a springboard for the student’s next submission. Each assignment was carefully selected to hone certain training skills and styles, and it generally takes a few repeat submissions of video to bring a student’s performance to Academy standards for any one assignment.

Video coaching allows the Academy’s coaches to assess a student’s mechanics thoroughly. Videos can be viewed by the coaches at slower speeds or multiple times, and can be compared against earlier submissions to gauge progress. Videos can be submitted for coaching without the expense of travel, and with dogs that are not otherwise suitable for workshops–a student’s own dog, dogs in the shelters they work for, or fosters. When our students graduate, their clients’ dogs will not always be social and low-key like those dogs most suitable for in-person workshops, so this trial-by-fire approach actually ends up being a boon.

I found the video coaching process tremendously beneficial, and you are not expected to submit video of professional quality: no one minded my sending in tape wearing full early morning PJ and slippers attire. (Me, not my dog.) The instructional feedback from instructors is very specific and targets exactly the areas requiring improvement, but always in a positively constructive and helpful tone. And what you are doing well is always emphasized and highlighted, so even if there is an area in which you are struggling, you feel good about the feedback. - Thea R., Academy student

Students are offered the golden opportunity to submit video as often as they need to become proficient trainers–coaching is included in the price of admission to the program. Our students are encouraged to use video to assess their own skills in a structured way as well, which helps to build the coaching skills they’ll need later with clients and in classes. And the Academy’s coaches model the teaching style we hope our graduates emulate: warm, thoughtful, generous, specific, and purposeful encouragement. In Academy lingo, we “scan and reinforce”. To the surprise of nary a dog trainer, reinforcement works to change behaviour.

I was nervous about submitting my first video–everyone seems to be. But it got much easier after that one and the feedback I received was invaluable. Getting clear, specific, kind, constructive reviews of videos I submitted was incredibly helpful, and knowing I can send in as many versions as necessary to get it right takes off some of the pressure. -Tim S., Academy student

In fact, the Academy would encourage all trainers to do regular self-assessments by video. Take a keen eye to your performance: do you have a “quiet body”? Are you keeping track of your dog’s performance? Are your luring motions, and later hand signals, consistent between reps and sets? Is your rate of reinforcement between 8-12/minute for untrained dogs? If you’re using secondary reinforcement, is the reinforcement overshadowed or blocked by moving or another ‘tell’? To make the most of your practice time, take a page from the Academy’s playbook: record your performance, track your improvements, and of course, reinforce!

When the Academy first moved to being offered solely online, video coaching was seen as a necessary evil. After more than half a decade of producing consistently proficient trainers, though, the writing's on the wall: well-designed video coaching works, and it works really, really well.

I love being able to train at my own pace instead of needing to be at a specific time and place with a dog who might or might not be ready to work. I can work with any dog in any location and at any time while recording the session for feedback about what's working and where I should practice a bit more. -Tim S., Academy student